Damping Engine
Artifact
A player who controls more permanents than each other player can't play lands or cast artifact, creature, or enchantment spells. That player may sacrifice a permanent of their choice for that player to ignore this effect until end of turn.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Urza's Legacy
- Price
- $0.87
- EDHREC rank
- #21753
Damping Engine locks any player who controls more permanents than you out of playing new ones — in a four-player game where opponents routinely outpace your board, that restriction bites hard and often. The catch is symmetry: it hits you too, so it earns its slot in decks that run lean or can exploit the lockout more than anyone else at the table.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Damping Engine does its real work — four players means someone almost always has a fatter board than you, and the card turns that into a soft lock that compounds every turn they can't deploy new threats. In stax and prison builds it pairs naturally with effects that keep your own permanent count artificially low, widening the gap against opponents. Legacy and Vintage are legal homes but have no competitive history with it; the effect is too conditional and too slow for those formats' threat density. Oathbreaker is legal and the same logic as Commander applies at a smaller table, though the faster game pace shortens its window.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.87 bulk tier
At $0.87, Damping Engine sits at the high end of bulk — it's not a card you'll struggle to find, but it hasn't cratered to pure throwaway pricing either. Niche stax demand keeps a modest floor under it; don't expect the price to move meaningfully in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.